Who and what’s to blame?

[Thaksinssoldier]

Now that it’s official, we’ve not lost our title, more failed to defend it. That’s the tragic part, we never turned up this season.

where did it go wrong?

1. Var. yes, it shafted is a lot in the early days...but...I think the club let it get to them a lot each and every time and would dwell on it and fail to pick themselves up quickly enough.

2. Defense. Fullbacks have been terrible all season IMO. Swapping Danilo was a terrible decision. Walker and Stones seem content to have won so much that they stepped backwards. Mendy just hasn’t worked out and the way Pep managed Angelino was disgraceful imo. Decent player left on the bench all season only to be given his debut at anfield vs salah. He set him up to fail imo and didn’t want him brought back from the start.

Laporte was a massive loss, unfortunate.

3. Fernandinho. This to me was Pep’s worst ever managerial move. He took a world class DM out of his position to play bang average at CB. So now we’re weak in two positions rather than CB. It was clear Rodri wasn’t ready for the amount of games he was given, Fernandinho could have taken so much pressure off the back line had he not been moved to CB and left there. I mean he wasn’t even rotated to DM when Stones and Otamendi were fit.

4. Bernardo. Failed to kick on this year for me, certainly not up to last years standards on a consistent basis. Hopefully that comes next season.


So...your thoughts? Where did it go wrong for us this year?

 

[KirkhamBlue62]

VAR set the tempo with the referees using it to make some dodgy decisions. Just think about how Rodri was grappled to the ground against Spurs and how Pogba was tickled to the ground against Spurs a few days ago and which resulted in a penalty.
We all know the other many decisions that were far from fair and unbiased. And the Alexander-Arnold ‘I always hold my arm in this natural position’ is an embarrassment to the football world. They should be ashamed.
Not the only reason of course but that set the narrative.

 

[Semper aggressus]

You pretty much nailed it to be honest mate.

It really pisses me off we won't seem to spend what it takes to stay at the top when we're in a position of strength, or go the extra few million to just complete the team once Pep has identified a player we need.

Fern in defence has been disastrous for both the reasons you stated.

 

[Ardwick Green Blue]

The loss of Kompany and the failure to replace him combined overall poor recruitment in recent seasons left us reliant on ageing World class players (Fernandinho, David & Aguero).

In defence I'd say only Walker & Laporte are good enough for regular starts...Stones, Otamendi, Cancelo, Zinchenko & Mendy aren't.

 

[plattlanebenches]

Point 3 is the most significant for me. Moving Fern was a big mistake. Left us wide open time after time.

 

[BillyShears]

I think blame is too strong a word. Like Pep said you can't win every title every season.

Having said that, I think there has probably been an element of complacency in the recruitment, which is a by product of the genius of Pep. His capacity to move players around and use them in different positions has allowed the board to not plug gaps they would normally have to. Also his capacity to get more out of players than other coaches do has allowed them to not plug gaps.

I said last summer that the squad needed refreshing for the sake of the players. The core of that team had just done 198 points in two seasons and had to be literally perfect for the final half of the 18/19 season. The intensity and pressure was IMO always going to tell this season. We should've pre-empted that by being a bit more aggressive in our recruitment.

Moving forward my only concern is that maybe things are bit too cosy between Pep, Txiki, Soriano, and Khaldoon. It's great that they all love each other, but you need a guy who will say to Pep "I know you can make do with Ferna, but I'm giving you Koulibaly anyway". Sometimes you need that outside POV to push you to make a call on the squad that you maybe don't want to yourself.

 

[mexico1970]

With Laporte out we became weaker in two positions because Fernandinho had to leave his midfield role and play in the centre of defence. We really could have been better as last night shows we were a bit iffy at the back again.

That said, the scousers had help, too much help IMO.

 

[blueinsa]

VAR mentally did for many in my opinion as it did for us as fans watching it week in, week out.

Yes they have been more consistent but they are no way over 20 points better than us as a side and even Klopp admitted as much.

I have no problem being beaten to the title fairly but when its been handed on a plate it grates a little.

 

[sh249]

There‘s obviously a whole host of factors that have played into how we‘ve struggled. But watching last night, two things stood out again in terms of our general ‚make-up, as a side. One is that our shape is awkward - the balance that we had particularly in 17/18 and, to a lesser extent last season, has gone. When we lose the ball, we‘re all over the shop and far too susceptible to the counter. And the other is our lack of pace, aggression and mobility, all over the pitch.

 

[HelloCity]

I know you’re saying we didn’t turn up in relation to the league but just for perspective we’ve already won the Community Shield and League Cup and could go on to win the FA Cup and Champions League. A stretch maybe but if we did it we’d probably have completed the most successful back to back seasons in the entire history of English football.

In terms of the league what cost us was that we lost our two first choice centre backs. There’s not a side in the world which wouldn’t struggle in games under those circumstances. Those centre backs were also arguably 2 of the top 3 in the league and unfortunately those than covered were no where near to the same standard.

Another point is that it’s really really hard to retain the title. Winning it three times in a row is even harder, especially when you’re up against a rival as good as Liverpool. Just a small drop in performance means that you’re unlikely to win it and we’ve all seen over the last decade what can happen to teams that drop off just a little bit.